by Randy Orton is a 14 time WWE World Champion. He has been wrestling for over 20 years. He was taken out of television for close to 18 months due to injury. He made his return to WWE during WWE Survivor Series 2023.
Randy Orton wasn’t the only one who made his return at Survivor Series 2023. There was another wrestler who returned to WWE after close to 10 years, it was none other than CM Punk.
Randy Orton recently was interviewed by Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, where he talked about him and CM Punk returning on the same night.
“The day of Survivor Series, I’m about to get my boots on. I’m feeling the nerves, it had been a year-and-a-half. Triple H is like, ‘Hey Randy, I’ve got to talk to you for a second.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, what’s up, man?’ So he told me a couple things. And then he went, ‘One more thing–Punk’s returning tonight.’”
“I thought he was f—— with me. I said, ‘You’re joking,’ and he was like, ‘No, I’m not. This is something that just happened in the last few days, yada yada yada.’”
“I was so excited for this surprise return. That’s never really been the case. They’ve always kind of stooged off the fact I was returning; they wanted those views. So I’d never had that surprise return.
“I could have been really pissed, and old Randy would have been pissed. It was a defining moment for me. I went out there, we had a great WarGames match, everybody was excited that I returned, everybody was excited that Punk returned, and neither return stepped on each other. It was a testament to how much I’d grown. It would have been an issue only if I made it one, so I was proud of the way I handled it.”
